1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



201 



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And whatsoever he docth shall prosper.— Psalm 1 :3. 



^pjIIAT is a pretty h\g promise, to a mor- 

 Jl tal man, my friends, is it not? Wliat- 

 — ' soever lie doetli shall prosper. Do you 

 want to know to whom the promise is giv- 

 en, and under what conditions you can claim 

 itV If you will read the little chapter from 

 which I took it, you will Ihid that one very 

 proonnent requirement is that you keep 

 good company. A very little thing, is it 

 not? \\'ell, the first verse reads thus: — 



Blessed is the man that walkcth not in the counsel 

 of the uiigddly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, 

 nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 



One day I was out in the fields to see what 

 flowers the bees were working on. As I 

 looked over the brow of a hill 1 saw several 

 boys having sport with a bumble-bees' nest. 

 Alihough I would hardly a'ecom mend tor- 

 turing the poor insects as a proper pastime 

 for good boys, I could not but feel a thrill, 

 as I rememl)ered the times when I used to 

 enjoy myself hugely in just such "adven- 

 tures," as we used to be pleased to term 

 them. It is surely wrong to kill any of 

 God's creatures just for the sport of the 

 thing. In a few minutes my ears were 

 shocked with awful oaths. One of the boys 

 was one of my Sabbath-school class, and'. I 

 watched, hoping he would either make some 

 protest against such language, or quietly go 

 away. He did neither. I had often talked 

 with him about going with such company, 

 and it seemed, for tlie time, almost as if I 

 should have to give him up. It is utterly 

 impossible, my friends, be you either old or 

 young, for you to be constantly among those 

 who take God's name iu vain, without being- 

 harmed. It will surely, sooner or later, spoil 

 our chance of prospering, even in this world, 

 iu the best sense o£ the word lyro.^pcr. 1 do 

 not believe it will pay you to work where 

 such talk is going on. " Innocent men some- 

 times get into prison. Do they? I grant 

 you they often get iu wlien innocent of the 

 precise crime they are charged with ; but all ! 

 whom I have ever met were guilty of liaving i 

 kept bad company. Yes, very bad company. : 

 Every new face [ meet iu our county jail has ' 

 the same old story to tell over again. He ' 

 has been keeping very bad company. Things j 

 were all against him. Poor fellowsl they i 

 are right; things have been all against' 

 them. They were the victims of a string of j 

 misfortunes, and it really seemed as if all 

 the powers of evil had for the time con- ; 

 spired against them. 1 think they are right, \ 

 for Satan does get his victims into all sorl^s j 

 of traps, and very often they get blamed and 

 punished for things they did not do. j 



I once advised a friend of mine, a young 

 woman, not to be seen walking on the street 

 with a certain young man. 



" Why, Mr. Koot, what shall I do when he 

 happens to come along just as I am on my 

 way to my work? " 



"Go slower or faster, so as not to meet 

 him ; or, cross over to the other side." 



" But must I be so rude as not to treat 

 him civilly when he accosts me?" 



" Under the circumstances, I hardly think 

 you can with safety treat him civilly ; per- 

 haps I can not tell you just what to do ; but 

 something must be done at once. You will 

 suffer if you do not heed me ; and, in fact, 

 you have suffered already for even walking 

 with him once, as you say it has been only 

 once." 



" ^Vhy, Mr. Boot, what do you mean? Are 

 people talking about me? " 



" They are; and that is why I have come 

 to you." 



She burst into tears. " ]Mr. Boot, it is no 

 use. I might just as well give up. I have 

 done the very best I could, and yet they are 

 talking about me again. Oh ! tell me what 

 I shall do to have people mind their own 

 business, and let me alone." 



" Go back to your Sunday-school class and 

 teacher. Be constant in your attendance at 

 church, and let yom' jissociates be only 

 among Christian people. Shun those who 

 are in any way questionable, and in time the 

 world will give you all the credit you de- 

 serve, and even more too." 



Now, I am ready for those of you who ob- 

 ject to the advice I gave above, on the 

 ground that it is our duty to extend a help- 

 ing hand, and be civil to everybody. In 

 such matters we can not well give advice 

 that will api)ly generally to all cases. 

 Character is like money in the bank. Last 

 month I told you something about how you 

 were to have a good stock of it laid by for 

 emergencies. 



One little schoolgirl once for mischief took 

 another little girl's mittens and put them in 

 the schoolmaster's overcoat pocket. A third 

 little girl suggested the master might be ac- 

 cused of stealing. Now, children as they 

 were, they were capable of deciding, that, 

 although appearances were really against 

 the master, no sane person would ever say 

 for a minute he stole the mittens. Why? 

 Because he had such a character to back it. 

 He might go into a saloon, or walk with any 

 man or woman at any time of day or night, 

 and not a breath of " talk " would ever be 

 heard against him. Why? Because he has, 

 through years, got such a hold of the hearts 

 of the people, by his uprightness and Chris- 

 tian example, by his hard and earnest labors 

 for the youth of the community, that any 

 man would be called crazy who would think 

 of imputing to him any wrong motive in go- 

 ing anywhere, under any circumstances. 

 Compare this man with a boy who has been 

 with wild and questionable companions un- 

 til people have become a little suspicious of 

 him. Do you not see what a ditference it 

 makes? Little things make up the charac- 

 ter ; and the character-builder seems less 

 aware of how all these little things weigh, 

 than almost anybody else. Even the children 

 judge and weigh these little acts, and pretty 

 unerringly too. The sight of a cigar in a 

 young man's mouth kills him for posts of 

 usefulness, to a certain extent, in the eyes 

 of almost everybody. Why ? Perhaps many 

 would find it hard to tell you why, and many 

 might declare it would make no dilference 

 with them ; but when they happen to be 

 hunting a trusty young man for some very 

 important post, the cigar will surely not 



